[[quoteright:355:[[WesternAnimation/PinkyElmyraAndTheBrain http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/65d366e25d6f8f94cb1841a9f6e865e4.PNG]]]][[caption-width-right:355:''"Now WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain share a new domain. It's what the network wants, why bother to complain?"'']]

With all the {{Moral Guardian}}s and people who want to milk money from franchises, Western Animation is rife with ExecutiveMeddling. ----* Creator/{{Disney}} during the last decade of Michael Eisner's reign was this trope ''in motion''. It came to a head in 1999, when Peter Schneider left his job as chairman of Disney Feature Animation. Eisner told Sharon Morrill (head of Disney's direct-to-video department) and newly installed Feature Animation head Thomas Schumacher that he no longer wanted to be beholden to filmmakers - from that point on, executives would be making all of the creative decisions. What resulted were seven years of the company spiraling out of control, burning bridges with nearly everyone in Hollywood (including their most valuable partner Creator/{{Pixar}}), infuriating their stockholders (who revolted after Creator/WaltDisney's nephew Roy resigned from the company in protest), and ultimately costing Eisner his job and Disney its reputation. Thankfully ItGotBetter, but those last few years are probably the reason that his successor Bob Iger has been the most hands-off CEO that Disney has ever had.** Pixar had enough foresight to [[DefiedTrope defy]] this trope when they were purchased by Disney in 2006: one of the major stipulations in the deal was that Disney's upper management couldn't dictate the types of films that Pixar could make or interfere with them creatively, leaving the studio more or less autonomous within the Disney empire.* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' when executives try to mess with the show itself onscreen, such as trying to change the focus to villain Bushroot. The execs at least figured that killing Darkwing off should be vetoed.* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':** A positive example, when Disney Channel executives heard the song "Gitchie Gitchie Goo," they asked the creators to make a song for each episode. [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome This worked out REALLY well.]]** Also notable is a TakeThat in one episode aimed at Disney's Standards and Practices department. Phineas and Buford seem to be gearing up for a fight -- only to have it revealed that they have to thumb wrestle when the referee finishes reading off ''the exact policy required by Standards and Practices.''** Also parodied in the episode "Nerds of a Feather," when Doofenshmirtz tries to start a Buddy Cop show about him and Perry. He gets SethMacFarlane- err, a TV producer to agree, but as soon as the producer suggests giving Perry's character a girlfriend, Doof flips out and storms away. WordOfGod says this is based on some [[AvertedTrope averted]] meddling from the Disney execs; the creators didn't want to go through with it because Perry's "[[MarriedToTheJob married to his work]]."* Surprisingly, an episode of ''WesternAnimation/PepperAnn'', called "Girl Power," shows this example perfectly. When Pepper Ann's sister Moose sees her favorite comic-turned-TV show, Tundra Woman is, at first turned into TheDitz, then when Moose rallies people to make feminist complaints about this, the executives go ''way'' too far in the other direction and turn Tundra Woman into TheAmazon, which draws further complaints due to her losing all character in favor of being an overly-violent Neanderthal. In the end, it was cancelled and replaced with a space cartoon.* Also the same reason why ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' was taken off the air for a while, eventually only being shown in October. The show now airs throughout the year, thanks to popular demand.* Because of Creator/TheCW's failed pilot for an ''Comicbook/{{Aquaman}}'' series, ''Mercy Reef'', the character was not seen in JLU's final season, and his arch-enemy Black Manta was turned into CaptainErsatz Devil Ray. The episode "To Another Shore" was to feature Aquaman vs. Manta, but his role was given to Comicbook/WonderWoman instead. Knowing this helps to explain some of the episode's serious WTF moments: Why is ''Wonder Woman'' at a meeting about global warming (yes, Themyscira is an island, but...)? Why did she give a very Aquaman-ish threat to the leaders of the free world? Most of all, why is ''Devil Ray'' so pissed at her?** Speaking of Wonder Woman, current policy is that Wonder Woman and related characters are only allowed to appear if she's one of the main characters.* Plastic Man and the BlueBeetle were also forbidden from appearing due to media adaptation rights conflicts. Those conflicts have seen been resolved, so both now appear along with Aquaman and Black Manta in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold''.** Speaking of which, apparently, there was problems getting Black Lightning into various DC animated series (which explains Black Vulcan in ''{{Superfriends}}''). However, when they delved into it when they were doing ''Brave and the Bold'', they couldn't ''find'' the exact reasons why[[note]]The most popular theory being that DC didn't want to have to pay royalties to creator Tony Isabella[[/note]], thus giving them a chance to bring Black Lightning into a DC animated production for the first time.** The producers have stated that when using Comicbook/TheAtom, Comicbook/{{Firestorm}} and Blue Beetle, they were encouraged to use the [[AffirmativeActionLegacy more recent, non-white versions]] for the sake of diversity. This in turn led to Ryan Choi, Jason Rusch and Jaime Reyes being given more prominent roles in the DCU after the 2011 DC relaunch. However, Choi and Reyes' predecessors did appear in later episodes, with Ted Kord (the second Blue Beetle) being given a noble HeroicSacrifice as opposed to the ignoble death his comics counterpart suffered.* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' had its share of meddling in its production. Executives did not think that young viewers would identify with Batman very well, so decreed that his sidekick, Robin would have to appear ''in every episode'' in the second season, something that the creators did not want, as Batman needed some time alone as a solo vigilante. A proposed story involving a Catwoman and Black Canary team-up was axed when the executives noticed that Robin was not involved. In the end, the creators won out, and by ''The New Batman Adventures'' period, Robin made only occasional appearances where they saw fit (this time as a young Tim Drake version, even), but the team-up script was forever lost. A similar plot was used instead in "Batgirl Returns". (Black Canary later appeared in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' and ''Justice League Unlimited'', by which time Catwoman was ensnared in the Bat-Embargo, above.)** Meddling and censorship sometimes led to the producers having to think of inventive ways of showing otherwise unacceptable content. For example, in the episode "Robin's Reckoning", they were not allowed to show Dick Grayson's parents plummeting to their deaths from a trapeze, so they instead framed the shot so that you simply see their shadows swinging out of view, then the snapped rope swinging back followed by the audience's shocked reaction. The creators conceded on a DVD commentary that this made the scene much more effective, and thanked the studio for making them do it that way. Track down the book about ''B:TAS'' if you want to see many of the decisions Fox censors made for them. ("It must be clear that Batman is kicking thugs in the ''stomach''." "Try to have Catwoman land on something other than her face or breasts." "For some reason, they didn't like the hyenas chowing down in the baby carriage." etc.)** The ''BTAS'' episode "Over the Edge" was subject to one of the most ironically positive bits of Executive Meddling known to man. [[spoiler:Originally, when Batgirl/Barbara was to fall to her death while hitting her father's police car on the way down, the camera angle stayed outside of the car, looking head-on at Gordon and Bullock as Barbara hits the hood. The network censors objected to the blatant on-screen violence and flagged the shot. The sinister bastards at WB Animation then set the shot of Barbara landing on the hood from ''inside'' the police car, using the conventional "back seat" shot seen in so many movies. This is a much more startling and frightening shot, as the camera angle is so common and generic that the violence is ten times more unexpected. However, the censors, in a remarkable show of GenreBlindness, only paid attention to the fact that Barbara's landing was technically further away from the camera and signed off on the more vicious shot.]] [[{{HSQ}} Those suckers.]]*** An interview with Dini shows him saying something to the effect of "If the network wanted us to change a scene because it was too violent or scary, our policy was to follow their words to the letter, but at the same time make it much scarier," noting that they could get away with a lot of terrors if they followed the words to the letter.**** This is horrifyingly obvious when you see [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker Return of the Joker]]. Rather than just being shot, [[spoiler:Joker]] is electrocuted and gives a nightmare-inducing death scream, and we [[NothingIsScarier don't see it happen or how the body looks like afterward.]]** FOX Network executives put the kibosh on an adaptation of ''Batman versus Dracula'' when they insisted vampires could not be shown drinking blood. Years later, ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' was able to use Dracula ''and'' show vampires drinking blood, but only as a direct-to-DVD movie subject to less censorship than the TV series. (By the same token, the movie gave Batman a love interest, Vicki Vale, who was nowhere to be seen in the show, and included a number of sexual innuendoes, such as the Renfieldized Penguin remarking that Vicki had "nice jugulars.")** FOX also refused to let Dini use Firefly, a pyromaniac villain. (Burning off half of Harvey Dent's face in an explosion was apparently okay -- but note that this was changed from the comics' origin of acid being deliberately thrown in his face.) It wasn't until the series transferred to the WB that Firefly made an appearance. Though ironically, Dini and Timm both ended up with the opinion that he was one of the dullest villains they ever put on the show.* Similarly, when asked to do a show about [[HighSchoolAU Batman in High School]], creative interpretation of that concept gave us the {{Cyberpunk}} dark future of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''.* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' suffered from Executive Meddling as well, though not quite to the same degree. Bruce Timm said that for some reason, DC wouldn't give him permission to have Clark reveal his identity to Lois. Ever. And it came up again in ''Justice League'', when Timm revealed that DC again squashed the reveal by forbidding him to say or insinuate that Clark and Lois were dating -- ''when they'd been married in the comic for over ten years.'' It wasn't until the build-up to JLU's ([[UnCancelled first]]) GrandFinale that Superman (not Clark) took Lois on a date.** That could explain [[http://dcanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Double_Talk?file=DoubleTalkLoisClark.png this cameo]] at the WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries episode ''Double Talk'', the ventriloquist walks in a park as he passes Clark (not Superman) and Lois lying in the grass.** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZfVdqnu9h0#t=4m42s Here's an Opie and Anthony clip of a caller specifically calling out Turner Executive Jamie Kellner for cancelling Batman TAS and Superman TAS, along with everything else that was good about the network.]]* Bruce Timm has confirmed that the members of the production staff were barred from using Sinestro or the Sinestro Corps in ''GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'' due to plans for the character in the [[Film/GreenLantern proposed film franchise]]. The writers have mentioned [[TropesAreNotBad this worked out for the best]], as it forced them to work with lesser known, untapped villains such as the Red Lanterns.* On the Marvel side of things, Human Torch was '''[[{{Misblamed}} not]]''' left out of ''WesternAnimation/TheFantasticFour1978'' because network execs feared children would set themselves on fire to imitate him. Rather it was because Universal had the rights to the character for an (eventually unmade) project.** In the FF comic book, the Torch explained that he was out of the country when the contracts for the cartoon were being signed.* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' is notorious for GettingCrapPastTheRadar, and dancing circles around the censors [[note]]though ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'' set the bar in the "dancing around the censors" department and ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' gets away with more an episode than ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' can in a season[[/note]] -- at least in America [[note]]Australia and the Philippines' versions of Cartoon Network have shredded the show due to innuendo and what they consider to be rude language[[/note]]. However, one thing in particular wouldn't fly with the censors- the character Tree Trunks dying by explosion in the episode "Tree Trunks". In a case of very positive executive meddling, the creators revealed that she had been transported to a crystal world, and she was later rescued by the titular characters. She returned in other episodes. Tree Trunks is one of the most beloved characters in the show. If the creators had had their way, she would have exploded, and only appeared in one episode. But they were forced to think outside of their own box, which led to a few excellent episodes all about Tree Trunks, like "Crystals Have Power" and "Apple Thief".** It also got hit with a more negative, long-term instance of this trope. Due to some countries the show airs having laws [[HeteronormativeCrusader against the depiction of homosexuality/bisexuality]] [[MoralGuardians in children's programming]], the network currently won't let the creators openly acknowledge Marceline and Princess Bubblegum's lesbian relationship in the show. The writers have resorted to simply implying it as hard as possible without actually saying it, though they've been allowed to [[WordOfGay confirm it in interviews and on the internet]].* ''{{Transformers}}: WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' story editors Bob Forward and Larry [=DiTillio=] stated, after the conclusion of the series, that they had no interest in working on [[MerchandiseDriven toy-based]] series ever again, due to the demands of Hasbro executives, including which characters needed to be written out or introduced. For instance, Tigerhawk was shoehorned in only a few episodes before the series end [[spoiler:and was promptly killed off in the finale]].** One such issue of executive meddling came when the executives ordered them to kill off two Predacons, Scorponok and Waspinator, at the end of the first season to make room for the incoming characters from Season 2. [=DiTillio=] and Forward, recognizing how much of a fan favorite Waspinator had become, begged the execs at Hasbro to allow them to kill off the comparatively unpopular Terrorsaur in his stead, particularly as Tarantulas carried out the same function that he did only more successfully. [=DiTillio=] and Forward thankfully won this battle, and Waspinator was spared while Terrorsaur was killed.*** All of this is ironic was because it was meddling that got Waspinator into the series in the first place. The writers didn't care for the character at all, but were required to use him. They made him the ButtMonkey out of frustration, but that made him popular with fans. And he even grew on the writers, too.** As it turns out, they both eventually ''did'' work on such series again, as [=DiTillio=] ended up writing for ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'', and Bob Forward for the ''Hot Wheels Alien Racers'' series.** One of the main criticisms of the sequel, WesternAnimation/BeastMachines, was that the writers seemed to pay no attention to the character development of the previous show, with many of the characters suffering drastic shifts in personality and taking actions which were entirely inconsistent with their portrayal in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars''. It was later revealed that this was because the writers were given only rough outlines of the plot and characters and explicitly ordered not to actually go back and watch the show they were making a sequel to, so that the new show wouldn't be "too continuity heavy." [[ContinuityLockout It didn't work.]]** Pretty much every bit of ''Transformers'' media ever will have Hasbro sticking their nose into scripts to tell the writers which new character to focus on, who to [[CharacterShilling talk up]], and who to kill off/write out (usually because their toys weren't selling). The [=TFWiki=] [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/To_sell_toys has an entire page on it]].* Speaking of which, the 2003 ''He-Man'' remake was criticized as having failed due to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork a severe lack of promotion]] for both the show and toy line, an inconsistent air time, and -- for the toys -- a gross mis-distribution of the figures and several missed shipments to retailers, among other things. While most of these accusations are debatable, one isn't: even years after both show and toy line were canceled, the toy line's designers Four Horsemen convinced Creator/{{Mattel}} to allow them to continue to make merchandise for the series ''for free'', extending it long after interest in it has died. In a bit of reverse-meddling, Mattel only agreed if the new merchandise were immobile statues instead of the action figures Four Horsemen wanted.* The exact same thing happened to ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' -- except they came back on a different network, since CN's rights ran out.** The subsequent renewals of ''Futurama'' as a set of movies and then a relaunched series both began with some reference to the idiocy of the executives who shut down their business. The first movie spent about five minutes depicting the executives as complete and utter buffoons before [[OverlyLongGag describing how their remains were ground up to form a useful powder]].* ''ReBoot'' was the near-constant target of ExecutiveMeddling from Creator/{{ABC}}. It got so bad that in one episode the network demanded that a shot of Dot [[NoHuggingNoKissing kissing her younger brother on the cheek]] and saying she loved him be cut out for broadcast because it "promoted [[BrotherSisterIncest incest]]." One side-effect of this was the inclusion of numerous jabs at the [[MediaWatchdog Broadcasting Standards and Practices office]] at ABC in the show.** In Argentina, {{Media Watchdog}}s tried to ban this show, showing the "''Evil Dead''" episode as evidence that it was not suitable for children. Thankfully, they never succeeded.** The game portion of the first episode aired on Cartoon Network rather than ABC is more or less a non-stop series of "look what we can do ''now''" moments.*** In the episode where Enzo loses in a ''VideoGame/MortalKombat''-style fighting game, the demon played by the user is clearly announced as Satan. His fatality is one-handedly grabbing his opponent's heads and crushing them -- although the actual crushing part only happens offscreen, you still see him grab their heads and still hear it quite clearly. This is also the episode where [[EyeScream Enzo's eye is slashed out]] onscreen. "Look what we can do ''now''" indeed.** The line: "It's the [=ABCs=], they've turned on us! Traitorous Dogs!" the [=ABCs=] ('''A'''rmored '''B'''inome '''C'''arrier) being Megabyte's fleet.** At one point Enzo aims a ridiculously large bazooka at Megabyte's troops, only to discover, to his disgust, that it fired a life raft labeled "[=BS=] Approved."** And for much of the episode about Enzo's birthday, an uptight female binome rejected most of the acts Dot was planning for the party. This is a confirmed TakeThat[[note]]On the DVD commentary they admit that binome, named Emma See, was based directly on a BS&P official named 'Mary' who was "not happy about it"[[/note]] and the same episode then features Dot singing in a revealing red dress, with Enzo staring at her in what is, hopefully, surprise. Also, an awesome guitar duel between Bob and Megabyte.** Probably the most infamous example was Dot's chest, or as the animation studio called it on their own blog, Dot's "Mono-breast." ABC would not allow Dot to show any cleavage, even when she wore costumes where it would be anatomically impossible not to show it. When ABC dropped ''ReBoot'', the studio celebrated by stuffing Dot into an Elvira costume, and dedicating an episode to her new breasts ''(oh, and Evil Dead and horror movies in general also got a couple of nods)''.** On the flip-side, the show did actually gain one huge benefit from ExecutiveMeddling: Enzo. They were asked (read: ''told'') to put a little kid character in to boost sales in the U.S. Even the crew of the show has admitted that they ended up grateful that they were forced to include him.* NBC adopted the Christian video series ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' to air on their former children's programming block {{Qubo}}, but not before [[{{Bowdlerise}} bowdlerizing]] any and all references to Christ, God, the Bible, and Christianity. Public response eventually made them lighten up -- the Biblical discussions before and after each story were still cut, but religious references within the episode could stay.* The [[MoralGuardians parents' groups]] forced the producers of ''[[WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' to end every episode with an odd, FamilyUnfriendlyAesop that "The group is always right; TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong," which resulted in presenting TheLancer Eric the Cavalier as a constant whiner, who does everything in opposition to the group and, thus, always gets into trouble.** However, the group actually ''agrees'' with Eric in ''The Dragon's Graveyard'', which is considered [[DarkerAndEdgier one of the best episodes]].-->'''Eric:''' This is all Venger's fault! We ought to do something about that guy!-->'''Hank:''' Eric's right!-->'''Eric:''' [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong I am?]]** And all of them were chastised by the Dungeon Master for listening to Eric. He then treated them to a lecture about mercy.** "The Dragon's Graveyard" is notable because it showed what the show could have been if the executives had left well enough alone. The beginning starts off with them almost getting home, before Venger stops them. The kids avert AngstWhatAngst with a vengeance and Bobby breaks down crying. They finally get sick of him thwarting all their attempts to return home, and decide to take the offensive and ''kill'' [[note]]Well, NeverSayDie, but it's as explicit as it gets[[/note]] him to stop this from happening ever again. The series was intended to be a {{Deconstruction}} of "kids go to a magic world" by having the kids actually be afraid of the life-threatening situations they got into, and depressed about being lost on an alien world. But the {{Media Watchdog}}s just wouldn't let that happen.** And, of course, all bladed weapons were forbidden from the show, so we got a warrior that used a bow with energy arrows, a cavalier that only used a shield for both offense and defense, and a thief that could turn invisible but didn't really use any weapons.* According to [[WordOfGod the scriptwriter Michael Edens]], the DisneyDeath of [[spoiler:Alec Deleon]] in ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad'' was caused by Executive Meddling. Originally, he was supposed to be KilledOffForReal as early as in [[spoiler: the destruction of Mars]], as foreshadowed in a DreamSequence six episodes before that.* This gained a combined TakeThat and LampshadeHanging upon the ReTool of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' into ''WesternAnimation/PinkyElmyraAndTheBrain'', in the form of the retool-explaining ExpositoryThemeTune: ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy_-KBvO8Ek So Pinky and the Brain / Share a new domain / It's what the network wants / Why bother to complain? ...]]''** Brain even voices his displeasure, saying he deeply resents this.** Also, spoofed in ''Pinky and the Brain'' in the episode "You'll Never Eat Food Pellets in This Town Again," where the title characters are actually ''[[AnimatedActors actors]]'' in a hit TV show about two lab mice who take over the world. After a ridiculously tiny drop in ratings, the executives of the show's network decide to alter the show beyond recognition, turning it into any other '90s sitcom. The whole thing turns out to be [[AllJustADream Brain's nightmare]], but when you consider the genuine meddling going on behind the scenes of the actual show...** Ironically, a year before the ''Elmyra'' retool, "new character" executive meddling was parodied (with a bit of blatant ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' {{homage}}) in "Pinky and the Brain... [-(and Larry)-]." Larry does almost nothing but introduce himself repeatedly, he inserts his name into every conversation, his presence on the show is completely unexplained, Brain [[TakeThatScrappy hates him]] because he screws things up worse than Pinky ''ever'' could, and by the end of the episode he gets kicked out, only to be replaced by... Zeppo.* Not even ''{{Jem}}'' was safe from ExecutiveMeddling. The bosses asked Christy Marx, the creator and writer of most episodes of that series, to create a new Misfit for them. Christy attempted to make a black member for the Misfits, but the bosses rejected that, but offered her another idea: the new Misfit could be British -- leading to the creation of Jetta.** Their odd reasoning was since the Misfits were the antagonists of the show, the executives were worried that African American groups would take offence if one of the ''villains'' was black. Jetta was the best compromise that they could come up with ("ethnic," but still white.)** After season 1, Christy Marx was also told that she had to re-use music from previous episodes, forcing her to find ways to justify re-using old music in new scripts. As a result, only about half of the music from season 2 is original, and some of the new music is repeated only a few episodes later.* ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' had an example when the producers were forced to cut a scene where the character Lance Alvers saves Kitty Pryde from being crushed by a statue. Apparently, the WB execs felt this would frighten young children, not because the character was imperiled -- but because ''it wasn't that long after September 11th''. Even though this was a show where mutants with superpowers attacked each other and stuff blew up all the time. As a result of the cut, Lance is seen just holding Kitty with no explanation why, leaving viewers confused.** TheWB was '''horrible''' about jumping to ridiculous conclusions like this (see the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' example). Anyway, Lance and Kitty didn't fare well with ExecutiveMeddling at all. They were broken up in season 3 due to KidsWB complaining about too much romance on the show. [[OfficialCouple Scott and Jean's]] relationship was spared though.* During his tenure as head writer on ''TheRealGhostbusters'', Creator/JMichaelStraczynski constantly battled with Creator/{{ABC}} execs. Some production members have noted having a happier time with the syndication episodes, which were subjected to far less scrutiny and it shows. (The Creator/HPLovecraft-inspired, "The Collect Call of Cthulhu," is just one of the episodes people have noted the network wouldn't have cared for.)** Especially contentious was the ongoing debate over the Ghostbusters' secretary, Janine Melnitz. A child psychologist hired as a consultant by ABC felt the character was too cynical and abrasive. Her personality should be more supportive and [[GirlsNeedRoleModels "feminine"]], instead. The consultant also expressed concerns that her sharp, angular glasses might [[ViewersAreMorons scare children]] -- and yet, all the [[GrotesqueGallery grotesque ghosts and monsters]] running around were a-ok. JMS acquiesced to one of ABC's demands, making Janine a Ghostbuster for an episode. The execs had felt young girls needed a positive female role model and saw this as an opportunity to do so.** Other additions the executives wanted were more Slimer-centric episodes, and junior Ghostbusters, a [[FiveTokenBand group of children]] that [[TheLoad followed the Ghostbusters on missions]], including a handicapped member. Both were attempts to pander to different age groups. Eventually, JMS simply quit out of frustration. After his departure, '''all''' of these changes came to pass, including altering Janine's look, personality, and voice. JMS would come back in Season 6 (though other jobs meant he could only do a few episodes). He {{Lampshaded}} the changes made to Janine in the episode "Janine You've Changed."*** In ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'', Janine is back to her original personality, Slimer is back as a minor supporting character, and no mention is made of the Junior Ghostbusters.** The same network consultants had also wanted Ray to be removed from the cast, as they felt his character did not benefit the program. Straczynski and the other writers objected, and Ray was allowed to remain.** Peter became more friendly towards Slimer, due to the consultants wanting their rivalry downplayed and for Slimer to be more of a cute mascot character.* The [[ArtShift "puppet mode"]] [[TheStinger Stinger]] segments that play during the credit sequence of ''{{Chowder}}'' were completely removed from their first run due to the current practice of Creator/CartoonNetwork appropriating a show's credit sequence for additional show promotion and advertising with their blatant CreditsPushback (a practice becoming increasingly more common on television in the United States). Fortunately, the Stinger segments are now finally being shown, but only when the show is aired during "off-peak syndication."* Similarly, TheStinger sequences for ''CampLazlo'' were sacrificed via CreditsPushback as well. It's a wonder ''anybody'' on Cartoon Network even bothers with stingers anymore (though ever since the new original programming came along, like ''AdventureTime'' and ''RegularShow'', they don't have any stingers).* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' also came in for a substantial amount of meddling. The writers weren't allowed to use the words [[NeverSayDie death, die, or kill]]; hence, when Peter found out Uncle Ben had been killed, it was shown as a police officer shaking his head and saying "I'm sorry, kid. The guy was armed." Also, realistic guns were out, so even petty thieves were armed with [[FamilyFriendlyFirearms futuristic lasers]].** Morbius, a vampire. The writers weren't allowed to show him sucking blood through his fangs, so he apparently has fangs for ''no reason'', as he instead drains plasma (they can't use the word "blood" apparently) through suckers in his ''hands''. The suckers were so {{squick}}tastic that they made the character even creepier, whereas his declarations of "I hunger for PLASMA!" were often {{Narm}}.** Carnage. In the comics, he was a mass-murdering psychopath, but in the series he wasn't allowed to kill anyone -- instead he sucked out their "essence" through his hands, which was restored to his victims after he was sucked into a portal. In the scene where he acquires the symbiote he attacks some prison guards; he picks one up and makes some knives with his fingers but instead it shows him busting through a wall. To be fair to Fox, the NYPD's description of Cletus Cassidy implied his psychopathic tendencies, and his mannerisms and laughter were still pretty creepy in their own right (''especially'' the laughter). So while Carnage could not kill anyone, the censorship didn't stifle his sadistic personality.** Sandman was never seen because rights were tied up with the (unmade) original movie plans and instead Hydro-Man was used in their place.** Spider-Man was also never allowed to throw a punch because it would make the show ''too violent.'' The writers managed to slip just one punch in the 65-episode series. Although TropesAreNotBad in this case, as it forced Spider-Man to be much more clever in his crimefighting, which fits his genius-level intellect. And of course, the massive number of ''kicks'' didn't hurt.** They also weren't allowed to break windows, which ''also'' got snuck in, one wonders how they missed ''that''.** If that's not absurd, listen to these:--->"When Spider-Man lands on a roof, ''make sure he doesn't harm any pigeons''."\\"Spider-Man can imprison a villain, but they can ''not'' be ''given a ticket to California to leave''."** A mixup over villain names forced the writers to introduce the Hobgoblin in season one rather than the Green Goblin, to match the toys that had been ordered. This allowed Hobgoblin to become an engaging character in his own right and a precursor to the more dangerous Green Goblin.** The censorship standards led to The Punisher being castrated. He was purely non-lethal and pretty ineffective as a result. However, the telling of his origin (for those unaware, the brutal shooting of his wife and young children which obviously couldn't be shown) was incredibly effective. The only visual was a kite flying in the sky and at the sound of gunshots fell to the ground, landing in a puddle and forming the classic skull as it became soaked in water.* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'':** Vlad Masters, Danny's ArchEnemy and EvilCounterpart, was originally going to be a vampire. This is pretty evident from his appearance, the fact that he's named after Vlad The Impaler (y'know, the guy who was the inspiration for the infamous [[{{Dracula}} Count Dracula]]), and that his supervillain name is "Plasmius" (as in Plasma, something you find in blood, which is what vampires feed on). The executives at Nickelodeon thought the idea was "too occult" ([[SarcasmMode Never mind that the show is about ghosts...]]) and had him changed into the bitter yet [[EvilIsSexy still somehow appealing]] half-ghost villain we all know and love. *** "Plasmius" was also apparently a word written on a brick that one of the creators saw and liked.** [[SeasonalRot Season 3 was a cesspool of Executive Meddling]]; First off, the main writer for the first 2 seasons was fired, so Season Three resulted in heavy alterations that caused severe FanonDiscontinuity for some fans. Next, the schedule kept changing, moving the show's time slot to odd times in the middle of the day. Also, some of the episodes were played OutOfOrder (such as the heavily-promoted ''Urban Jungle'', which was the ''first'' episode of the season to air, despite taking place in the middle of the season), and given how plots built during this season (with several major events like Plasmius becoming mayor and Danny gaining ice powers) this made the season hard to follow. Also, Nickelodeon decided that they wanted this to be the last season, despite series creator Butch Hartman wanting to make new seasons and that there was no drop in the ratings. This meant that all of the plot lines had to be wrapped up quickly. [[AbortedArc Or not at all.]]* One episode of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' cartoon show is a huge TakeThat to Creator/{{ABC}}'s Broadcast Standards and Practices, featuring an annoying, fairy godmother-like character Goody Two Shoes who claims to represent the "Bureau of Sweetness and Prissiness" (yes, she does use the abbreviation at one point). The characters finally manage to shake her by being ''too'' SickeninglySweet even for her tastes, and the end of the episode {{lampshades}} actual censorship in the show, namely how the camera cuts to another character's reaction whenever Beetlejuice eats a bug.** There's also the ratings-obsessed Mr. Monitor, who's practically the personification of ExecutiveMeddling.* Given the three different companies responsible for the production of the ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' (2003) -- toymaker Playmates, Mirage, and [[FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids]] -- it wasn't surprising that this eventually crept in. Especially the events surrounding season 7. After an intended follow up season to "Fast Forward" was aborted, a struggle between the three parties began over the direction for the cartoon. Among the eventually rejected suggestions were a [[{{Chaotic}} card game-based series]], a series with the Turtles caring for their [[SpinoffBabies infant past selves]], and a completely fresh ContinuityReboot.* When a little boy burned down his trailer home and caused the death of his baby sister, the program ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' was blamed because Beavis was a bit of a pyromaniac. As a result, he was no longer allowed to shout "Fire!, Fire!", he was no longer able to carry around a lighter and set things ablaze, and many past episodes' fire references were edited out. As it turns out, the kid's family ''didn't have cable'' and there was no way the kid could have seen the show.** It did lead to one memorable music video scene -- the video was Wax's "Southern California," which famously features the UnusuallyUninterestingSight of a man on fire jogging down a street. Instead of Beavis saying anything about fire, he just goes into a catatonic daze of pure bliss.** Beavis continued to hilariously lampshade this bit of ExecutiveMeddling as the show went on. Upon seeing a monk in a video, he begins excitedly shouting "friar, friar!" while Butthead nervously prods him to stop. Beavis eventually mutters "oh yeah" and settles down again. Another time, he slowly and deliberately chants "liar, liar, pants on..." and then concludes with a distracted [[CurseCutShort "whoa!"]]. Yet another time, while watching Bobby [=McFerrin=]'s "Don't Worry, Be Happy," Beavis sees Robin Williams and exclaims, "Look, it's Mrs. Doubt-FIRE!!!"** 15 years later, this was apparently lifted as the first new episode of the series have Beavis proudly exclaiming "FIRE! FIRE!"* Several aspects of the DarkerAndEdgier second season of ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' have the fingerprints of meddling. Superman X's existence seems to have come out of a pressing need to have a Superman with a warrior complex and more superpowers:-->'''James Tucker:''' They wanted a super-up Superman. They didn't care how we did it, but they wanted him to be more of a badass. For me, I didn't want to alter our existing Superman that much. So along with Michael Jelenic, we came up with [[SendInTheClones the clone from the future]]. (More [[http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=117 here]].)** More depressingly, Saturn Girl's season-long ConvenientComa and the near-disappearance of Phantom Girl seem to be the results of maximizing the {{ratings}} for the target 8-to-11-year-old male {{Demographic|s}}.--->'''Stan Berkowitz:''' ... the network focus-grouped ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' (and ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperheroes'') and found out that what our very young male audience wanted was more fights, jokes and costumes and fewer female characters. No surprises there... [[http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/batman/tnba/backstage/interviews/berkowitz.php]]* ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' almost never happened largely because of Nintendo's unwillingness to license the series. Nintendo finally agreed but not before asking for hefty royalties in the process. Despite the show being a smash hit and many celebrities (whose kids loved the show) wanting a guest appearance, Nintendo balked after production for its lone season ended.** This didn't stop Nintendo from licensing two spinoffs which aired on NBC Saturday mornings, ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfSuperMarioBros3'' and ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld''. There hasn't been another animated adaptation of the Super Mario Bros. franchise since.* After ''Devil May Hare'', the first WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes short staring the Tasmanian Devil was made, executive Eddie Selzer made it extremely clear that no more cartoons about him would be made, since Taz was, in his opinion, stupid and unfunny. However, Jack Warner himself liked the cartoon, so this was overturned.** Not that the WB animators were likely to listen to Eddie Selzer anyway. According to Chuck Jones, once while he and his frequent collaborator Michael Maltese were brainstorming ideas for a new WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon, Selzer stuck his head in Chuck's office and said that he didn't think bullfights were funny so he didn't want them to make any bullfight cartoons. They hadn't even mentioned bullfighting during their brainstorming session, but after Selzer left, Maltese waited a few seconds, then said, "Well, he hasn't been right yet..." They immediately produced ''Bully for Bugs'', in spite of Selzer's orders, which turned out to be one of Bugs' better vehicles.*** Insiders have since noted that Selzer had to screen the cartoons after they were made. He obviously said nothing after seeing ''Bully For Bugs,'' so it was accepted that like Leon Schlesinger he let the animators make whatever they wanted as long as they were within budget.* Despite the show receiving excellent ratings, Creator/HannaBarbera decided to end ''WesternAnimation/SWATKats'' after its second season so the company could direct its focus towards the [[WesternAnimation/WhatACartoonShow What-A-Cartoon project]] they were developing at the time. Given how the resulting ''What A Cartoon Show'' went on to produce pilots [[WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory that became]] [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls some of]] [[WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken the earliest]] ''Creator/CartoonCartoons'' series (as well as the precursor to [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy one of Fox's most successful animated sitcoms]]), this is inarguably [[TropesAreNotBad not a bad thing]].* A positive example: Originally, the [[WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor Kids Next Door]] were to use high tech equipment to fight adult tyranny. The folks at Creator/CartoonNetwork, however, asked this to be changed since ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' had already done this. This resulted in [[BambooTechnology 2x4 technology]], which Mr. Warburton has called one of the coolest things about the show.* ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy'' was another animated show that was subject to Executive Meddling. The Nickelodeon suits made creator John Kricfalusi do some cartoons that were traditional and heartwarming, to help offset the extreme grossness of the show.** The Executive Meddling forced John K to replace some of show's gags and premises, instead of going for coarse and down-straight obscene. The toilet and sex jokes took over the absurdity and nonsense. Nick's executives also asked him to give a softer side to Ren, which made him an adorable JerkWithAHeartOfGold. A few of these restrictions seemed to diminish after John K left and Games Animation studios took over, something the former has been more than willing to point out.** In John K's words "for every idea Nick accepted, they threw out five others" and some of the censoring they did was downright ridiculous (i.e. in Big House Blues, they removed a scene of the dog-catching shaking his butt at Ren, because the execs thought it was "too feminine" and Stimpy's Invention almost didn't get made because of nervous execs).*** According to interviews with the likes of Bob Camp and Bill Wray, it was even worse in the Games Animation episodes, with executives not even ''consistent'' about how they wanted the episodes to play out. They even went the opposite way with Ren, with Wray claiming to be under more pressure to [[TookALevelInJerkass make him meaner and meaner]] as the series progressed.* ''TheSimpsons'' is practically immune to this trope in real-life. Producer James L. Brooks has the clout to make it a rule that the network can't give notes. Little things have been tinkered with (largely relating to legal/censorship issues), but the series has been spared the problems others have faced. That doesn't mean the series doesn't parody this trope, though. This trope was parodied in when too much meddling caused Krusty to retire for the umpteenth time.--->'''[[HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight Krusty]]:''' Folks, I've been in showbiz for sixty-one years, but now these jerks have sucked all the fun out of it. I don't need twelve suits tellin' me which way to pee!\\'''Male Executive:''' Uh, for "pee," could you substitute "whiz"?\\'''Lindsey Naegle:''' I don't know, that could upset the Cheez Whiz people.\\'''Male Executive:''' I was just thinking that.\\'''Krusty:''' I can't take it anymore!** It was also parodied when executives came up with [[ShooOutTheNewGuy Poochie]].--->'''Meyers:''' No, no, no! He was supposed to have attitude.\\'''Silverman:''' Um... wh-what do you mean, exactly?\\'''Myers:''' Oh, you know, attitude, attitude! Uh... sunglasses!\\'''Lady:''' Could we put him in more of a "hip-hop" context?\\'''Krusty:''' Forget context, he's gotta be a surfer. Give me a nice shmear of surfer.\\'''Lady:''' I feel we should Rasta-fy him by... 10 percent or so.** Also a major factor of the plot in the episode "Beyond Blunderdome." In the episode, Mel Gibson intended to star in a potential remake of ''Mr. Smith Goes To Washington''. Homer disliked it, and the fact that he was the only person to actually honestly voice this opinion was the reason why he hired Homer to help him with it in the first place. Homer then came up with some ideas, such as speeding up the film, replacing the main villain with a dog with shifty eyes, and finally rewriting the entire filibuster speech to have Mel Gibson go to his usual roles of a mindless killing machine. Ultimately the last one was chosen. Several executives were appalled by the change after a test screening, and decided to burn it. Eventually after a literal chase throughout Hollywood, they relented, and the Executives who were against the new version turned out to be quite right in their judgment about how horrible the change was, as the audience was disgusted and mortified by the final version, with one audience member, Jimmy Stewart's granddaughter, threatening to sue Homer Simpson and Mel Gibson for tarnishing her grandpa's masterpiece.** Was parodied in the episode Homer to the Max:--->'''Homer:''' Oh, I can't wait. Look, Marge, I got a scorecard printed up at that all-night scorecard place.--->'''Lisa:''' Isn't mid-season just a dumping ground for second-rate shows that weren't good enough for the fall schedule?--->'''Homer:''' You're thinking of all the other years. This year's shows are classic. There's "The Laughter Family" -- that's animated. Networks like animation 'cause they don't have to pay the actors squat!--->'''Ned Flanders:''' [voice slightly off] Plus, they can replace them, and no one can tell the diddley-ifference!*** This conversation also acted as both an inside joke and a TakeThat to the FOX executives, since they often don't pay the Voice Actors enough money, with several of them threatening to quit because of the low pay, and some actually managed to succeed temporarily. To sell the joke even more, [[TheOtherDarrin Ned Flanders was voiced by Karl Wiedergott in this scene instead of his usual voice actor, Harry Shearer]].** In "Natural Born Kissers," treasure-hunting Bart and Lisa dig up an alternate (and implausibly happy) ending for ''Film/{{Casablanca}}''. The Old Jewish Man reveals he was one of the executives who insisted the happy ending be filmed, but he buried it after watching it.*** He also apparently insisted on a "killing spree" ending to ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife''.** One of the few times Matt Groening exercised his executive meddling privileges was during the production of "Homer vs. Dignity", aka the Panda Rape Episode. The original ending had Homer, dressed as Santa Claus, on the Christmas parade float, throwing ''pigs blood'' on the audience while sobbing uncontrollably. Groening insisted on a rewrite, and the blood was changed to fish entrails (which allowed for a hilariously bad pun, "Merry Fish-mas to all!") (Also, Mr. Burns throws the blood instead of Homer, who finally grows a set and refuses to do it.)** The now-abandoned premise of having a character "warn" the audience about the scariness of the Treehouse of Horror episodes was a clear reference to network squeamishness. The final warning, in fact, in Treehouse VIII, was delivered by a FOX censor himself, who described his role as "protecting you from reality" (before being brutally murdered on-screen ''by the TV rating graphic'').** In "Once Upon a Time in Springfield", Krusty is approached by two unnamed network executives who forced him to add a female character named Princess Penelope to his show to increase the ratings and attract more female viewers. Krusty refuses, but they are ready to make a reality show to find his replacement. Desperate to stay in this sweet gig, Krusty grovels and agrees, while the network executives congratulate themselves on a job well done by giving each other a high five. As the ratings improve and Penelope immediately overshadows Krusty as the star of the show, Bart and Milhouse (who are loyal fans) try to get the show back to the way it was. However, the situation gets more complicated when Penelope reveals to Krusty that she's his biggest fan and joined the show mainly because of him, leading to the two falling in love and nearly getting married.** "Homer's Phobia" came very close to being killed by the network before it aired. After viewing a cut of the episode, the censors came back with pages of notes and edits that would have been impossible to make by the deadline. There was a shake up at FOX, though, which included replacing the censor. When they showed them the cut, a new note came back that only said, "Acceptable for broadcast." As John Waters (who guess starred as John in the episode) noted in the DVD commentary, "It's all politics." In the end, only one joke edited out (which involve John describing Homer as being "like [John's] father."), though that was done at John Waters' request, because he didn't want people thinking his father wasn't tolerant of his sexuality.* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' creators Mike and Brian have implied this as the reason for their inability to resolve the Ursa subplot. Apparently, they had plans to give many things much more closure, but this trope, along with time constraints, forced them to the end the series the way it did. By their own choice, they ended up turning down a proposal to have the Ursa subplot resolved in a brief throwaway scene of her and Zuko reuniting at the end, as that would be a textbook example of a WriterCopOut, wrapping something up in a quick, unsatisfying way. Thankfully, the sequel comics ''[[Comicbook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePromise The Promise]]'' and ''[[Comicbook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch The Search]]'' eventually resolve this subplot.** In the DVD commentary for one of the episodes, one of the creators makes a vague reference to "certain people" who objected to the show having such strong female characters. May have been an attempt at Executive Meddling that didn't take.** The ambiguity of [[spoiler: Jet's death]] is also due to this trope, because execs were against showing a teenager being violently murdered.** That isn't the only time the executives' stance against killing has caused trouble for the show. The whole point of Avatar Kyoshi's backstory is that she chose to ShootTheDog and kill Chin the Conqueror, but the higher-ups wouldn't accept her killing him outright, so this was changed to her using bending to split the continent and Chin falling to his death after stubbornly refusing to get out of the way (Kyoshi herself insists this distinction is irrelevant and considers herself Chin's killer). Similarly, Avatar Roku's death at the "hands" of [[spoiler: Firelord Sozin]] -Executives refused to let [[spoiler: the Firelord]] kill Roku, so instead he just shows up out of nowhere while Roku is dealing with a volcano, offers to help, and then leaves just as randomly without affecting anything at all.** DVD commentary also mentions that Nickelodeon would have liked Aang to be thirty, use bladed weapons, and ride a motorcycle. These suggestions were the subject of a TakeThat in the episode ''Sokka's Master''.** Not that they were always wrong. During the show's development, the execs noticed that Fire Lord Ozai was just OrcusOnHisThrone, and suggested that there be a younger, more active villain pursuing the Avatar. This idea became Prince Zuko, one of the show's lead characters.** To get the swimsuit outfit designs they wanted for the 3rd season episode "The Beach", several highly inappropriate outfit candidates were included along with what the designers actually wanted in order to thwart executive meddling. It was a [[CensorDecoy classic bargaining tactic]]: make an absurd offer so your actual desired offer looks quite reasonable in comparison.* The 1st episode of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' was originally going to have Jimmy dying and ending up in [[AHellOfATime Miseryville]] as the result of [[CelestialBureaucracy an administrative error]], making the fact that the show took place in {{Hell}} even more clearer. Some broadcasters were [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids disturbed by this]], so in the end Jimmy's past was simply left vague.* An in-universe example: An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' revolved around the school holding a contest where entrants would create health and safety posters. Jane and Daria collaborate on an entry, featuring a skinny blonde girl, and a poem explaining that she has achieved this supposedly angelic physique through the magic of bulimia. Mr. O'Niel and Ms. Li love the painting, but aren't too keen on the less-than-sugary poem, so they ask the girls to change it to one with a more sanitized and curriculum-approved message about good nutrition. The girls refuse, citing artistic reasons, which sets off a series of events which culminates in a very entertaining scene where Mrs. Morgendorffer threatens Ms. Li with legal action.* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''** After "Jared Has Aides" premiered, it was banned from Comedy Central's airwaves until 2009 because it depicted Butters getting beat by his parents (actually, it didn't show him being beat on-screen, we just hear it). The creators were forbidden from treating Butters like this ever again, until the episode "Butterballs", in which he is abused by his grandmother.** In the two-parter [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover "Cartoon Wars"]], remember the message stating that Comedy Central refused to broadcast an image of Muhammad handing [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Peter Griffin]] a football helmet? That was real; Trey and Matt tried to get the network to sign off on it, but they refused. (The episode remains censored to this day, even on DVD and the Internet.)** "200," the first episode of a season 14 two-parter, featured the Super Best Friends, a superhero team consisting of religious figures -- including Muhammad (who was previously uncensored with no problems in the group's first appearance in Season 5, though that was made and aired before September 11th, 2001 and TheWarOnTerror). This time around, Muhammad was portrayed as a giant censor bar, except for the scenes where he was in a bear suit. A New York-based Muslim group practically shat bricks over the portrayal of Muhammad in a bear suit, and warned Trey and Matt that they might very well end up like Theo van Gogh (a filmmaker who was shot and stabbed multiple times by an Islamic extremist for making a documentary about violence against women in Islamic cultures) because of it. Comedy Central, fearing the worst, waited until Trey and Matt delivered the next episode ("201"), then heavily censored it prior to air; they bleeped out all instances of the word "Muhammad" in dialogue and bleeped out the "moral of the story" speech at the end, which had nothing to do with Mohammad and was actually about intimidation and fear (an irony that was not lost on many people). The scenes depicting Buddha snorting cocaine and Jesus looking at pornography went completely uncensored.*** Some people saw the censoring of Muhammad and the uncensored portrayals of other religious figures engaging in sacrilegious behavior as an ironic TakeThat against the double standard enforced by the executives. ** In an early example of meddling, Comedy Central censors ordered a scene removed from "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig" that involved Shelley setting Stan on fire (and then dousing him with water, explaining a puddle that suddenly appears underneath him in the episode). This was due to fear of another ''Beavis and Butthead''-style controversy. As early deleted and removed scenes (pre-season 10) tended to be destroyed afterwards or lost in some other way, the scene lives on through a leaked video rip that someone had made back in the early days of the show.** "Tom's Rhinoplasty" was to originally have a line where Wendy lies to Stan about witnessing Ms. Ellen in the bathroom with a nasty yeast infection (as an attempt to make him lose interest in her). The censors heavily objected to the yeast infection reference, asking Parker and Stone to replace it with something less "disgusting". They obliged, and changed Wendy's lie to be about spotting Ms. Ellen "taking a huge dump" and it allegedly smelling worse than a dead calf rotting in the sun. It passed the censors, and the two noted on the commentary how strange it was that a yeast infection reference was considered gross and taboo, but that a poop joke could easily make it through.** Yet another early example of ExecutiveMeddling: In "Starvin' Marvin", the original idea was to have Sally Struthers killed by the Ethiopians, and then they would feast on the fat from her body. Comedy Central wouldn't allow this, so Parker and Stone had to retool the ending to show Struthers being tied up and Dr. Mephisto's mutant turkeys being donated as food for the Ethiopians. * It's been implied more than once and is the general opinion of the creators that ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' was cancelled due to this. In fact, the movie can be seen as a feature-length middle finger to Comedy Central. The creators firmly believe that despite the fact that ''South Park'' is just as crude and vulgar as ''Drawn Together'', and at one point providing heated competition in ratings, the latter was cancelled solely for Comedy Central's pet.* After the ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' pilot, ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgiNbuFwORw Garage Kids]]'', was made, the changes made to the show's plot and setting angered co-creator Thomas Romain so much that he left the production staff.* WordOfGod says this is why ''LeastICouldDo'' hasn't been made into an animated series yet. Ryan Sohmer had signed a deal with Creator/{{Teletoon}} for 13 episodes of ''Least I Could Do'', when suddenly notes from the higher-ups started coming in. Notes that said the show needed to "feel more Canadian," that the setting should be specifically in Toronto, that Issa should be an Inuit, that Mick should wear a Toronto Maple Leafs shirt and that Rayne and Noel should go out fishing instead of on walks. Needless to say, Sohmer [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome kindly told them where to stick it and backed out of the deal]].* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'', "Cartoon Makeover." Weird Al, Don Knotts, and The Blue Falcon team up to revise the cartoon to make it more appealing to the audience. Naturally, the kids hate it and the previously mentioned trio turn the show back to normal before the episode's end.* Apparently, when the idea of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' was first pitched to Creator/AdultSwim, executives wanted to change the character of Doc Venture (they saw him as too mean) as well as switching the episode format to two 15-minute episodes. Even though the show wasn't changed, Creator/AdultSwim still regrets even making such suggestions.** It is speculated that the reason why the show suddenly went from featuring actual ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' characters to Expys starting in Season 3 (Jonny became "Action Jonny", Race Bannon became "Red") was due to the production of the live action film making Warner nervous as to what the show was doing to the characters (Jonny was a paranoid junkie, Race a former torturer who gets killed and [[BowelExistenceFailure voids his bowels onscreen]])** The show has proven itself to the network to the point where it is fairly proof against it these days. The reason for the hiatus in the middle of Season 4 is because the ''writers'' weren't happy with the stories they had, and asked Adult Swim for time and resources to redo it better. To Adult Swim's credit, they agreed. * This is the EXACT reason ''SymBionicTitan'' was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork cancelled]], apparently because the higher ups at Creator/CartoonNetwork wanted toy companies to make toys for the series, but failed to get licensers for it.** Now it seems that there actually ''were'' several toy manufacturers who wanted to take on the show but Cartoon Network never contacted any of them and the show was murdered because of a personal falling out between executives at CN and Genndy Tartakovsky, the former of which wanted the show to go in a more WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}} direction.* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. According to WordOfGod, executives have been mostly hands-off for the show, and the writers have been allowed a lot more freedom than expected, with some exceptions. The length of this section is due to how open the people who work on the show have been about talking about it, rather than an unusually high amount of interference.** The show as originally pitched was more adventure oriented than it ended up being, resulting in the slice of life comedy with adventure elements mixed in.** Season One had that [[{{Edutainment}} E/I label]] on the upper-left corner of the screen on TV, in compliance with a broadcast television standard (cable is exempt). In Season Two, ''it's mysteriously removed.'' It's not clear why this is, but bronies sure are satisfied that the show appears to be hindered by the standards much less now.** Princess Celestia was originally to be a queen, but was made a princess because apparently, {{Disney}} [[ViewersAreMorons has supposedly made it so that little girls affiliate queens with evil and princesses with good.]]. After all, this was several years before [[Disney/{{Frozen}} Queen Elsa]] became Disney's pop-culture icon.*** This is also why all of Princess Celestia's toys were pink until recently, even though she has a white coat in the series.*** While many people believe Princesses are inferior to Queens, in real life there are many countries ruled by Princes; these are known as Principalities (as opposed to Kingdoms, ruled by kings/queens; Duchies, ruled by a Duke or Duchess; and Empires, ruled by Emperors/Empresses). Prince itself comes from the Latin word princeps, meaning "first person"; it was one of the titles of the Roman Emperors. These titles are used differently in different countries, resulting in confusion amongst people who assume all countries work exactly the same.** Prince Blueblood was supposed to be a duke, but again, [[ViewersAreMorons kids can't grasp the subtleties of royal hierarchy.]]** In a positive example, Apple Bloom was originally to find her cutie mark on her own without any help. Lauren Faust was asked to add Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to be her friends, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were born. Oddly enough, Faust always thought they should have their own [[SpinoffBabies spin-off pre-school show]], but Hasbro suggested that the Crusaders should be used in the main series first.** One of the most common forms of this was the demand for specific, popular characters from previous gens to appear in the show in a prominent enough fashion to sell the toy version of them. Thankfully, no specifics about ''how'' those characters would have to appear, so the writers could deal with this fairly easily (for instance, Cheerilee becoming the teacher of Ponyville).** The episode "Suited For Success" can be viewed as a {{satire}} of executive meddling, as Rarity's artistic vision of {{Pimped Out Dress}}es for all her friends is compromised by their [[ComplainingAboutThingsYouHaventPaidFor nitpicking]], despite the fact that [[ChekhovsSkill most of them]] don't have any clue what they're talking about, and with Rainbow Dash offering absolutely no advice other than "[[MemeticMutation Make it 20% cooler]]." The [[DarkReprise second take]] on [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSbXGsysAAk&feature=related the song in the episode]] (to begin with based on [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwV1Wf8tUo another song about executive meddling]]) even contains lines that make some sense in the context of the story but really work in such a satire: "Make sure that it stays within our budget." is an example of one of those lines. It makes sense in the story, because the ponies naturally don't have unlimited money to spend on the dress, and even moreso an irony, as they impose many lavish changes to their respective dresses, but still demand that "even if [Rarity] simply has to fudge it, make sure it stays within [the ponies'] budget". It also works in respect to the satire as well.\\\\As previously stated, executives have been mostly hands-off for the show, but one thing [[http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/12/24/my-little-non-homophobic-non-racist-non-smart-shaming-pony-a-rebuttal/ mentioned]] by LaurenFaust as a "requirement" was "to incorporate fashion play," which was handled by making it a matter of Rarity being an artist. The episode [[Analysis/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E14SuitedForSuccess can be seen as incredibly meta]] if you think about it like this.*** Ironically the episode itself fell slightly to a bit of Executive Meddling, the episode title was originally to be "Dress For Failure" but was altered because it was considered too downbeat.** According to [[http://comments.deviantart.com/4/1603670/2371989638 this]], Big [=McIntosh=] was planned to get his own episode, but it was rejected.*** In season 1, he could only be called Big [=McIntosh=] in-show instead of [[InSeriesNickname Big Mac]], due to the latter being an obvious usage of a trademark from another large company. This seems to no longer be in effect, however, as he has been called "Big Mac" several times in season 2 and a couple times in online printables.** Chalk this one for the MoralGuardians: The character [[EnsembleDarkhorse Derpy Hooves]], a grey cross-eyed pegasus who's largely looked at as the [[PeripheryDemographic bronies' avatar]] has been subjected to this. Apparently, there were complaints that the character portrayal was that similar to a mentally challenged person, something too offensive to show on a children's television show and they complained to Hasbro to fix it. Apple removed the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup episode of her appearance]], only for it to come back with a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2CRjPO73Dg&feature=related completely edited version of the infamous scene]]. Derpy has a normal voice, her eyes changed, and Rainbow Dash doesn't even refer to her fandom name. Needless to say, [[BerserkButton the fandom was not too happy about the edit.]]*** And then she appeared very little in Season 3, with rumors that she's being phased out completely. Fortunately for her fans, she does finally make a reappearance in the season 3 finale, after all of ''three or four'' previous sightings (all in crowd shots)*** It has been confirmed that Derpy's name will REMAIN Derpy Hooves at the request of Lauren herself, but her voice will likely remain altered as a favor to Tabitha St. Germain who got the gender mixed up when she first voiced her. She will also not be referred to by any name. This would probably mean that she won't appear in any important capacity. The character returned in Season 4 without a name or voice. *** The reason why Derpy is [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NXGaStFehEE/VXyErX6i88I/AAAAAAACSQA/1nE58947aqI/s1600/Capture.JPG credited]] as "Muffins" in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E9SliceOfLife Slice of Life]]" was also due to executive meddling. Even though nopony specially mentions her name, Hasbro had M.A. Larson go back and change all instances of her name in the script.** Lauren Faust originally intended for Princess Cadance to be a unicorn and was surprised to see her changed into an alicorn. However, this allowed Hasbro to continue selling a pink alicorn toy while allowing them to produce show-accurate WHITE Princess Celestia toys, because [=ToysRUs=] thinks AllGirlsLikePink (and apparently, only pink).** Twilight becoming an alicorn has been speculated to be the result of this, though it has not been confirmed. It is very likely, however, considering a slew of Princess Twilight Sparkle toys was launched with the episode.*** Same could be said for a lot of other MerchandiseDriven like A Canterlot Wedding or The Crystal Empire, each with more or less of a confirmation. ** For the finale of season 4, "Twilight's Kingdom", they did get one note that they couldn't do in that episode: [[spoiler:show Twilight punching Tirek in the face]]. A bit weird when one considers that the second episode of the series was allowed to show Rarity kicking a manticore in the face on-screen.** Before season 04 aired, Meghan Mc Carthy promised that Flash Sentry wouldn't be a character on it. Despite this promise, he appeared '''twice''' and after the backlash following the second time, Big Jim (Series' co-director) confirmed that Flash was added "by request" ''and'' admited the fans shouldn't trust any staff's promises anymore. '''Ouch.'''** [[https://youtu.be/Kfm0089to2A?t=1h29m28s According to M. A. Larson]] Hasbro was the one behind the idea of having the 100th episode be a LowerDeckEpisode that focused on the background ponies.* In-universe example/spoof of this in ''TheBoondocks'': Huey is asked to direct the school's Christmas play, but important aspects of his script are vetoed by the school principal; Huey eventually walks off the project, but his teacher puts on Huey's version of the play as written (and gets fired for it).** Two episodes of the Boondocks second season, "The Hunger Strike" and "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show" were banned from premiering on Adult Swim. Both episodes were centered around BET and portrayed them as being socially irresponsible, and exploiting black stereotypes for profit. Despite denial by Adult Swim, many believe that BET threatened Sony and AS to pull the episodes with legal actions. Viacom (parent company) was confirmed to threaten legal action against Adult Swim. Thankfully, both episodes were featured on the Season 2 DVD.* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' had an episode, PTV, that dealt with ExecutiveMeddling (thanks to Lois bringing the FCC into Quahog after having the straw break the camels back in regards to some of his lewd shows, and other more personal reasons depending on the version).** The same episode in RealLife also subverted it in a way: The FCC was okay with the creators using Peter's pooping off the side of the highway onto another highway and it landing on Lois's car's windshield (the original reason for Lois' calling in the FCC) for another show of Peter's so long as they at least do minor things such as remove Peter lowering his pants, silence the wet sound of the poop landing, and making the poop look ambiguous. The writers ultimately decided that the changes weren't worth it, so they rewrote it to have Lois protest against PTV after seeing ''The SideBoob Hour'' (a collection of all the side-boob shots of actresses that network TV once allowed), and even ''that'' had to be monitored by censored in RealLife so as not to show too much SideBoob.** In the episode "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater," one of the cutaway gags was a parody of the [=DeBeers=] "Diamonds" commercial that had to be edited to remove strong implications that the female shadow was going to give the male shadow a blowjob. The version that ended up airing had the woman slide about three inches down before the scene cuts to a title card that reads, "Diamonds: She'll Pretty Much Have To." This example isn't as bad as others, as the actions and implication is still intact and viewers will still understand what's going on, whether or not it's explicitly shown.** Many jokes and gags in the syndicated runs are either edited or cut out completely.** An episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' explored the idea of ExecutiveMeddling in which Brian finds an old script he did for a TV drama series called ''What I Learned on Jefferson Street'', about a single father who turns his life around by going back to college and starts being a dad to his toddler-aged daughter. When Brian's series gets made, it gets co-opted by James Woods and is turned into a raunchy sitcom called ''Class Holes'' about a sexy college co-ed's life falling apart when her father enrolls in the same college she's enrolled in.* ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'' The series was cancelled because of meddling, not from Sega, but from ABC - a new president came in and declared that he was sweeping out the old and bringing in new stuff. That, coupled with the fact that the show's ratings suffered as a result of its competition with ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', resulted in its cancellation.** Some of the second season's alterations were a result of ExecutiveMeddling too. The creative team were asked to balance out the gender ratio with another female character, resulting in the creation of [[SpotlightStealingSquad spotlight stealer]] [[TheScrappy Dulcy the Dragon]]. Similarly, executives also asked for more comedic material, the infamous Antoine-centered half-hour episodes being part of that request.* WordOfGod says that the ''[[WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim Earthworm Jim]]'' cartoon was made to boost video game sales and that Doug [=TenNapel=] wants nothing to do with the show (despite that it's considered one of the best cartoons of the 1990s).** Years later, Doug tried to make an LighterAndSofter animated adaptation of his graphic novel ''ComicBook/{{Gear}}'', which he intended to develop as a dark (though not as dark as the source material, which is...''very'' morbid, to say the least), plot-driven animated series in the vein of ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' or ''Gargoyles''. When he pitched it to Nick however, the executives didn't like it and retooled the show to have a more zany and comedic direction, said show ultimately became the short-lived ''WesternAnimation/{{Catscratch}}''.* In October 2012, ''WesternAnimation/DCNation'' was set to air the third new episodes of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' and ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'' since they came back from hiatus... only for them to be ''hiatused again'' ten hours before airtime and told they'd be back in January. Many rumors came about, including the lack of shorts and the fact that the episode of ''Young Justice'' to be aired has Stephanie Brown, the poster child of DC's Executive Meddling in the New52 era. Current theory is that there were licencing problems involved with YJ using Milestone-based characters like Icon, Rocket and Static-- which still doesn't explain why GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries and the shorts were pulled, too. Whether it's ExecutiveMeddling or ScrewedByTheNetwork is still unclear.** Shortly after the shows came back, Cartoon Network dropped the revelation that both would not be renewed for more seasons. The two series had been quietly cancelled back before the hiatus, although the creative teams were not allowed to state it until the network made it official. The apparent reasoning for the schedule change and cancellation was that network higher-ups felt that the shows did not perform well enough, due to their lack of toylines. According to Jerome K Moore (character designer for ''Young Justice''), WB Animation was willing to go through with a season 3, but the network's lack of renewal put a halt to the idea.** Recently, an interview with Paul Dini by Kevin Smith laid out a big bombshell: that Cartoon Network is in the mindset that not only do cartoons just sell toys, but also that cartoons are only for boys. Many of the cartoons were being enjoyed by girls and, as such, Cartoon Network has deemed them "failures".* ''PoundPuppies'' was also affected by network consultants in its second season. Q5, who also had ordered changes to The Real Ghostbusters, was behind these suggested improvements to the show. However, the changes wound up controversial to fans: Nose Marie suddenly became a motherly figure, and Bright Eyes was de-aged to be more of a "little sister"-type character.* A writer who worked on ''WesternAnimation/HeathcliffAndTheCatillacCats'' recalled cartoonish gags being cut from the storyboards. The Japanese animation producers at TMS could not understand them and wanted those toned down. * In an example of this trope not necessarily being a bad thing, Adult Swim had shot down the idea of ''{{Superjail}}'' being a silent cartoon and insisted that Christy Karacas and Stephen Warbrick give the characters dialogue and voices. The executives did concede to letting Jacknife remain as TheUnintelligible.** Karacas voicing Alice is also due to an executive's suggestion that the original actress be let go.** One episode idea from season 1 was rejected by Adult Swim, due to the fact that it only involved Jacknife and Jailbot and took place in the outside world instead of the jail: Jacknife would have evaded capture and built a robotic suit to fight Jailbot in, while the citizens of the real world would think Jailbot was an alien and think of Jacknife as a HERO.*** Ironically, an episode involving the two characters stuck outside of the jail wound being aired as the Season 2 premiere, under the name "Best Friends Forever", and was considered one of the better episodes of that run!** The opening to "Special Needs" had to be altered slightly, as the Standards and Practices department objected to the visual of Jesus (in actuality a disguised Jailbot) leaping down from his crucifix to beat up Jacknife. The shot of him leaping was replaced with a reaction shot of the congregation.** Season 3 had some scenes that were censored by the network for being "too disturbing", although the crew had noted that other disturbing shots had slipped by without notice. The censored shots included a visual metaphor of Alice's groin being a jackhammer, a drug-crazed inmate snorting cocaine, and a shot where dogs tear apart and eat an inmate. These shots were meant to be uncensored in the DVD release, but the censored versions of the episodes were used instead (see below).** All of the DVD releases have been advertised as "uncensored", but something happened in production to prevent the season 1 and season 3 sets from actually having the original unbleeped/uncensored episodes, leading to fans becoming angry at the false advertising and the creators having no idea themselves at what exactly occurred. To this date, the season 2 DVD release is the only one that has actually used the uncensored copies of episodes.** Mistress Kilda's death scene in "Lord Stingray Crash Party" was ordered to be toned down considerably, although Karacas can't remember all the details of what they had to change. The one noticeable detail that the crew does recall is that they had to color her innards a pale yellow.*** Chris [=McCulloch=] originally voiced Lord Stingray, but was let go after an executive thought he was parodying the Monarch and told the crew to go with a different voice actor. It worked out for the better in the end though, as the crew and executives were more pleased with Eric Bauza's portrayal. The lines [=McCulloch=] voiced were dubbed over in post-production, although an early animation test has his take on the character.** "Hot Chick" had some content edits made to it during production: *** Hunter was to originally not be defeated by the Twins, but would wind up shapeshifting back to goo when the inmates were trying to sexually assault her. The entire climax was changed as a result of having to tone down the disturbing implication. Her nudity also originally had detail, but Williams Street S&P forbid the depiction of nipples and pubic hair, leading to her BarbieDollAnatomy.*** One Twin originally wore a Nazi armband as part of his inmate gang disguise. After S&P told the crew that they couldn't show the swastika, the armband was edited to be a solid red in most shots, while another depicted it with a [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar "Nazi smiley face" instead (with SS bolt eyes)]]. As the network allowed the actual inmates to sport swastikas, it might have been that the Twin's disguise went a little ''too'' far (as he wore a fake Hitler mustache and had his scalp shaved).** "The Budding of the Warbuxx" originally had the titular Warbuxx with an umbilical cord, which was later removed in the final animation to tone down on the implications that [[OffingTheOffspring the Twins had killed and eaten something that was likely their offspring]]. The birth of the Warbuxx was also altered to have it literally bud off (and outright shown), rather than the implication that it had come out of the Twin's butt.*** In general since the hiatus between seasons 1 and 2, and the switch in animation studios, the censorship rules at Williams Street have changed a bit and anything to do with dead children or cannibalism winds up vetoed by the executives. This leaves the crew to have to slip in things implying it or find a way to write around the edits.* This is the reason ''WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'' has continued past the third [[SeasonalRot and intended final]] season (not to mention uncancelled too), even though the series was meant to conclude with [[BigDamnMovie the Big Damn]] [[WesternAnimation/{{TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie}} Movie]]. Due to [[MoneyDearBoy the huge amount of money the movie grossed at the box office]], and because of reruns still getting high ratings, Nickelodeon ordered more seasons to be made. Stephen Hillenburg and several other members of the show's crew weren't interested, so they either [[KickedUpstairs resigned to executive positions]] or left Nickelodeon because of it. * ExecutiveMeddling is the reason the Daffy/Speedy series of WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes shorts (the most despised Looney Tunes shorts ever -- unless you're against the really early WB cartoons that might as well be Disney toons because of how bland they are) exists. In 1964, WesternAnimation/BugsBunny, WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck and SpeedyGonzales were the three most popular characters in the Looney Tunes series. Television companies, thus, demanded more cartoons featuring Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales (who, at this point, had only starred in about 20 cartoons). Unfortunately, since the newly-reopened Warner Brothers Animation Studio had a very limited budget (due in no small part to the UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem), they had no choice but to pair the two characters together rather than give them separate cartoons. And thus we got "classics" like ''Well-Worn Daffy'', ''Skyscraper Caper'', and ''Speedy Ghost To Town''.* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' had many edits requested to make the series LighterAndSofter for a children's series, rejecting many instances of violence and implied death. One example is in the episode "Bad Bad Rubber Piggy": the original plan was for Dib to be KilledOffForReal and replaced with another similar character. This was replaced with Dib returning as a cyborg-type character. Another more well-known version of this trope is an image of GIR covered [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120701203731/zimwiki/images/d/dd/Bloodygir.png head to toe in blood.]] This was rejected (for [[{{Gorn}} obvious reasons]]) by Nickelodeon and never blatantly placed into an episode. It did manage to get into the series as a very translucent EasterEgg.* Mocked in an episode of ''EekTheCat'' about how cartoons are made. At the end of the episode the producers of Fox rewrite the show so that Eek is a warrior kangaroo named Kangor the Destroyer.* GarfieldAndFriends parodied this in "Learning Lessons" and "Kiddie Korner"* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'', the Black Smurfs from [[ComicBook/TheSmurfs the original comic book story]] were changed to purple in the AnimatedAdaptation to avoid UnfortunateImplications. The same change would later appear with the Papercutz English translation of the comic book story itself.* The ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' series is a long-running example; After the success of ''Total Drama Island'', the show was sold by its parent studio to Cartoon Network prior to the debut of ''Total Drama Action'', leading to a series of changes that arguably contributed to the overall poor fanbase response towards that season. Also, in an interview with one of the show's co-producers, it was said that the decision to invoke the controversial love triangle between Duncan, Gwen, and Courtney during the events of ''Total Drama World Tour'' was an "executive request". ** It is known that the various studios working on the series have made many such similar "requests" of varying scale over the years. ** Word of God has also implied that the meddling has gone even deeper as the series has continued its run, with the shorter seasons being attributed to studio desires to save money and turn out the series faster, at an arguably noticeable cost of quality in the writing.* Lampshaded in the ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' story arc of the Bungling Brothers Circus, when Rocky is captured by an Indian and tied to a stake. He points out to the Indian that cannibalism is forbidden by the network.* The creative team for ''TheDreamstone'' were pushed to create more female characters (Amberley being the only female of the main cast originally), thus most supporting characters made after the first episode were made according to this ([[TheAce Wildit]], [[KidAppealCharacter Spildit]], Zarag, even the Planet Dreamstone has a feminine voice).** Seasons Three and Four were made primarily because ITV commissioned the team for two more seasons after the second. This caused some problems distributing the series for a while since the final two seasons were thus the property of a different company.* ''WesternAnimation/TheGodzillaPowerHour'' was a victim of this NOT by Hanna Barabera, (which licensed the series to be made), but surprisingly by Toho, the creators and owners of Godzilla themselves. As a result of Toho's denial of service, Hanna Barbera was forced to not only [[{{Expy}} create several monsters that "resembled" the classic monsters of the Toho films]] (including [[TheScrappy Godzooky]]) but also could not use Godzilla's very own iconic roar. [[NoExportForYou To add insult to injury, the Japanese version of this show DOES feature Godzilla's distinctive roar]]!* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} suffered this during its final season, The Goliath Chronicles. Executives wanted more lessons crammed in, resulting in a FullHouse moment at the end of every episode. Unsurprisingly, both the fans and the creator don't consider the third season as [[CanonDiscontinuity part of canon]], save for the first episode. * In a particularly bizarre piece of censorship, one episode of ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux'' had a scene redubbed on executive insistence, so that a scene of two characters having bizarre but consensual and enjoyable sex was turned into a torture scene. Giving a very dubious message of "kink is unspeakably depraved, but on-screen recreational torture is fine".* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' episode "Timmy TV", Timmy finds out his life is a popular reality show in Fairy World. The fairy executives use this opportunity to convince Timmy to make a few changes in order to increase the show's ratings, such as changing Timmy's hat purple, replacing Timmy's mom with [[TheBradyBunch Florence Henderson]], and replacing Chester and AJ with monkeys. Timmy, however, draws the line at getting rid of Cosmo and Wanda.* Somebody at Nickelodeon seriously has it out for ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':** First of all the creators were initially told that the series would just be one mini-series measuring at about 12 episodes. Nick proceeded to wait until halfway through the first season to inform the studio that they got signed on for three more seasons, when they had only plotted out enough story for ''one'' season. This caused Book 1 to end on an AssPull and Book 2 to start out as a disjointed mess as the writers struggled to set up a solid plotline. Nick also fell into the old habit of flipping the show around scheduling-wise, so no one could get a solid idea of when it would be on.** The writers also struggled to have Korra be a girl, as Nick was insistent that [[GirlShowGhetto boys wouldn't watch a show with a female main character]]. It took test audiences made up of boys to prove that this was a baseless assumption.** Book 3 avoided any problems with executives but Book 4 suddenly got hit hard again. The budget was slashed viciously meaning the season didn't have nearly as many episodes as the writers wanted/needed. They were bullied into having a pointless clip-show episode; Nick actually [[BadBoss threatened to fire some of the studio staff if one wasn't made]]. And just to top it off, Book 4, which resolved the show's MythArc, [[TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised was yanked off television]]. Instead Nick relegated it to their online programming. * On ''WesternAnimation/ChalkZone'', Rudy was originally eight years old, and was that age for the first two shorts on ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons''. When ''Oh Yeah! Cartoons'' was picked up for a second season, Nickelodeon became interested in spinning off the shorts into its' own TV series. For unknown reasons, they requested that Rudy had to be aged up to ten years old for the series. For the remainder of the shorts before the show premiered, Rudy was aged up by two years (and re-designed) and Penny was added as a new main character(her addition hasn't been confirmed as executive meddling, but she may have been added into the second season of ''Oh Yeah! Cartoons'' [[TheSmurfettePrinciple because there weren't any female characters in the shorts.]])* Besides its constantly rotating time slot, ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'''s creators frequently clashed with Fox over its story lines. Mike Judge and his writers wanted more emphasis on recurring plotlines, while Fox demanded they drop these to allow for easier syndication play. This led to NegativeContinuity and {{Retcon}}s in later seasons that undercut the show's story arcs and character development (Luanne comes to mind), or just plain rewrote character back stories (Peggy's background and relationship with her mother), which were heavily criticized by the show's fans.----